James Joseph Lunsford was Hillsborough County's first law librarian.
A largely self-taught attorney of many years' practice, Lunsford came out of retirement to take the helm of the newly founded Hillsborough County Law Library in 1937 at age 67. He was known respectfully as Judge Lunsford to the local legal community, though he never occupied the Bench. He served as Librarian for more than fourteen years and was on the job until his dying day in 1952 at the venerable age of 82, on the eve of the Library's move from the Old Courthouse at Franklin and Lafayette Streets to the Pierce Street location.
The Hillsborough County Law Library was rededicated in his honor in 2001.
Cited from James Joseph Lunsford: His Life and Times by Sydney K. Potter (2000)Original Collection
The Library's original collection included Lunsford's own law books along with those of his colleagues and peers in Tampa practice.
